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I mean just look at how much we have in common. It likes chocolate. I like chocolate. It works one day of the year. I would like to do so. It puts eggs in my nephews’ easter baskets. I steal liberate them when they aren’t looking.

The similarities are uncanny.

Then there’s my ongoing work to have the bogness that is candy Easter eggs outlawed. And my commitment to inhaling my own body weight in chocolate. Clearly, my passion for the cause knows no bounds.

But this year I thought I might expand my repertoire even further and have a go at actually making the eggs I eat. And while I don’t rule out superseding this well-intentioned plan with some urgent napping/catching up on Castle episodes, I did get as far as finding a few recipes on the Nestle website. Here they are…

Method
Combine condensed milk, butter and golden syrup in a medium saucepan over medium heat; bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat, simmer, stirring constantly for 8-10 minutes or until golden. Stir in peanuts and cool. Roll heaped teaspoonfuls of mixture into egg shapes, refrigerate until firm. Coat eggs with combined dark melts and copha; place on wire rack until set. Place melted milk melts in a small sturdy plastic bag and cut a very fine hole in the corner to drizzle and decorate eggs as desired.

MethodPlace condensed milk and butter in pan, stir over low heat until butter has melted; remove from heat, stir in egg and vanilla. Transfer to a medium bowl with biscuit crumbs, coconut and dark chocolate. Mix well; refrigerate 30 minutes. Shape different amounts of mixture into tear drop shapes to form a family of bunnies, place on foil lined tray. Refrigerate until just firm. Using scissors, snip at an angle, the pointed end of bunnies to form ears. Decorate bunnies with silver cachous for eyes, choc bits for tail and coloured sprinkles for whiskers. If desired, sprinkle bunnies with coconut. Refrigerate bunnies until ready to serve.

Anyway, I should point out that I wasn’t paid for this blog as Nestle doesn’t even know I’ve written it. I just knew they had good recipes that would be easy to follow. You can get other Easter goodie ideas at their website.

4 Responses to “How do you make Easter eggs?”

I’m thinking of having a crazy chocolate-fueled day later this week; those caramel nut eggs sound divine! Peanuts and chocolate are a real match made in heaven. I’ve never bought vegetable shortening before – at the risk of sounding stupid, what exactly is it?

That sounds like an awesome plan! I would say I would join you but truthfully, most of my days are chocolate-fuelled anyway 🙂 And there are no stupid questions. I am a total kitchen novice myself and am trying to learn more cooking stuff this year so totally understand where you are coming from. The best explanation I could find for vegetable shortening is that it is basically a solid fat made from vegetable oil. I double checked Nigella’s website (love her!) and she says it’s generally sold in the UK under names such as Trex, Flora White or Cookeen. Apparently it can be substituted in part/whole by things such as copha, lard, butter and margarine. Hope this helps and happy chocolating!

If only everyone was as understanding a tutor as you…! Thanks for the help – I have come across several recipes that call for vegetable shortening, and never thought to look it up later. In fact, it probably was Nigella (or Delia) who mentioned it!

My sister has quite a collection of her cookbooks back here, and although I haven’t got on too well with a number of her recipes (in Nigella’s defence, I think this reflects badly upon me as a cook, not her), I also LOVE Nigella’s world of food. Do you ever catch her shows on TV? Anyone who advocates chocolate midnight feasts is A-OK in my book.

Apologies for rambling on. Thank you for the help, and I really do enjoy your blog. Have a good week (and happy chocolating back at you)!

Oh yes I love Nigella. Especially as she’s a real woman – not some stick insect prattling on about low GI etc etc. Have a good week too. Mine is starting with chocolate already, and it’s only 7.30am here 🙂